


Rain

by PrettyIdeal



Category: Dragon Age (Tabletop RPG)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-07-12 17:05:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15999578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrettyIdeal/pseuds/PrettyIdeal
Summary: Even a quiet night in the Maison du Chevalier doesn't stay that way for long. Rain affects each member of this small Inquisition in different ways, tying them all together in curious ways.





	Rain

**ARLAN**

 

He hadn't slept much at all. Well, that wasn't entirely true. He'd actually fallen asleep rather quickly when the rain had started sometime in the night, but he'd had a nightmare that no amount of rain could help.

He'd been in that place again, waiting for Ludovi to make contact with Hauteglise where everything had gone to shit. The ruined hovel had been smoldering, in his dream. Some steaming place on the verge of catching fire again.

He had tried to tell the others that it was all a trap; he'd whispered at first, but when no sound escaped his lips, he screamed. Still, no one heard him.

Thora stood with her back to the door, trying to hear the conversation inside. Tiernan stood ready for an ambush, facing the wrong direction. Iris was scanning the tree line. Everyone was going to get hurt and no one could see it but him.

The explosion still happened, despite his soundless warning, but when the dust settled, only Tiernan had been taken.

He tried to move to the spot Tiernan had vanished from, but his feet were chained to the ground.

“How could you let this happen?!” Thora accused, although her lips never moved.

“I knew he couldn't be trusted!” The voice was coming from Iris, but it wasn't her voice. It had been the voice of-

Arlan jolted up, his blanket sticking to his chest, soaked with sweat. But the voice of the ghost had chilled him. He looked to where Tiernan lay sleeping next to him and the rain drowned out any noise he might have made.

_Safe._

He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm his racing heart.

Arlan didn't sleep after that. Instead, he wrapped an arm around Tiernan’s sleeping form, pulling him close.

_Safe._

 

**THORA**

 

Rain had come to Val Royeaux. It wasn't unusual for a port town, but it was inconvenient. Rain meant mud. And mud meant that every trip outside would be cold and uncomfortable.

Thora hated this weather. She pulled her blanket closer around her shoulders and stared angrily at the window. Before the winter came, she’d make it a priority to get more of the neglected fireplaces cleared out. Everything was just always so miserable and cold.

Even when it was hot here, it wasn’t the all-encompasing heat that she’d grown used to in Orzammar. She wasn’t sure that her bones would ever thaw after living on the surface for so long.

But there were things to do. She heard Adriane’s determined footsteps echoing down the hall and onto the landing to start the day. Thora sighed and left the cozy spot on her bed, cursing under her breath all the while. It didn’t help, though.

She didn’t have much, and her room looked nothing like Æfleda’s. But she had enough. A sturdy tunic, and quality boots, and a heavy cloak. Nothing was pretty, but why should it have mattered in the first place?

There wasn’t much left to hope for. She had one trinket from her life before: a golden broach. She pinned it to her collar, numb to the feeling of emptiness that had curled inside of her chest the day she’d left everything behind. It might never leave her.

But this...existing? Just living day to day without letting anyone in? This wasn’t doing her any favors.

A crack of thunder shuddered through the building, and she heard Effie shriek. A single moment later, the Templars’ door slammed open and heavy footsteps barrelled into the next door, which of course made Effie shriek again.

Thora sighed and opened her own door, calling down to Adriane that they were fine before anyone else panicked.

Their voices rumbled through the walls, mimicking the storm brewing outside. They passed her open doorway as they made their way back to their room.

Tiernan was rubbing the sleep from his face,  being guided back to his room by Arlan, who looked exhausted. They each met her eyes, nodding. The danger had passed, and they would all probably get ready for the day with a bit of frustration. She wanted to say something. Anything. She wanted someone to hear her.

But no words came.

Maybe it was the emptiness again, trying to take over.

Thora touched her broach as she’d done thousands of times since leaving home, and hoped the emptiness would stay away.

 

**Æfleda**

 

Effie listened to the rain hitting the sides of the Maison du Chevalier and smiled before she even opened her eyes. She adored the rain, and waking up to the gentle lull of it was a gift she hadn't been expecting. Rain was good luck. She’d heard that somewhere.

She stretched lazily, slowly opening her eyes to stare at the ceiling.

Effie frowned. There was a leak near the wall and water was following the trails in the cracking plaster. She huffed and sat up, slipping her feet into her shoes before making her way to the spot. She grabbed a dirty cloth and tried her best to mop up the water from the wall.

She froze when the damp plaster squished under the cloth, a bit of it sloughing away when she stopped.

“Hm.” She scolded the wall as if it might suddenly behave and repair itself.

Effie sighed. The room wasn't anything like she was used to, but...it was hers. She smiled and ran a hand over the bright pillows that she'd amassed on her bed, making it neatly as well as she could.

Well, it didn't do any good to dwell on what she did or didn’t have anymore. She pulled her nightgown off and slipped on her blue robe, hoping to escape outside and enjoy the rain before it stopped.

She didn't get more than two steps towards the door before an impossibly loud peal of thunder cracked across the sky.

Effie shrieked and turned towards the window. It felt as if it had struck the very building she was standing in! Her heart was still pounding when her own door flew open and slammed against the wall.

Effie shrieked again, her heart now leaping into her throat as she whipped around to face whatever had burst into her door.

“What-”

“Who-”

The Templars burst into her room and both tried to speak over one another. Tiernan was the first to take a deep breath. He seemed to calm once Arlan put a hand on his shoulder.

“M’sorry-”

“I’thought-”

The looked at one another in a sleepy stupor, both trying to speak at once before Arlan took over the conversation.

“You’re alright, Æfleda?” Arlan asked. He had dark circles under his eyes, and she could hear the gravely tone of someone who hadn't gotten any sleep.

Tiernan was looking at everything but her when she finally answered.

“Of course, I was just startled. The thunder...” Effie tucked a bit of hair behind her ear and stood as still as possible. She didn’t want them thinking that she’d do anything rash. “And you?”

Arlan’s eyes shifted to Tiernan and back before he answered.

“Fine, yes.”

“We’ll be going, then.” Tiernan cleared his throat and looked at the ceiling.

Effie watched his eyes notice the water leaking in, but he didn’t say a word about it.

When they left, she let out the breath she’d been holding and sat heavily back onto her bed. And when she remembered that she’d only _just_ slipped into her robe before the thunder had cracked, she felt the blush overtake her entire body.

She smiled and moved again to look out of her small window. The rain brought good luck, indeed.

 

**TIERNAN**

 

At some point in the night, he remembered feeling whole. Like a part of himself had been found somehow that he’d never realized was missing. It wasn’t a conscious thought; just a feeling. It vanished the moment the mage screamed.

His head was fuzzy and his ears were ringing, but the mage...

He was up like an arrow, flinging the bedding aside and turning to wake Arlan in one movement, only to find that Arlan was alreday moving towards the door. Tiernan bolted through the door as Arlan opened it, and burst into Æfleda’s room as Arlan followed, the two of them working together flawlessly as if they had practiced.

The mage was standing near the desk, but she jumped and screamed again when her door hit the wall without warning.

She put both hands to her chest and stared at them with wide eyes, taking a deep breath and keeping completely still. Tiernan held his breath.

If something had happened, would he be able to tell? Surely.

He’d spoken, but Arlan had taken over. Tiernan turned his head to look everywhere else. Her bed had been made; the pillows artfully arranged and the bedding tucked as well as could be under the bowing mattress. Her desk was neat, but her nightgown had been discarded on the floor. He looked away from the garment quickly and met her eyes for a moment.

She still looked like the woman he’d gotten familiar with over the past few months. He couldn’t be perfectly sure, but if she’d planned to do any magic, she probably would have done it by now.

Something caught his eye near the ceiling. He looked up and saw that water had been leaking in steadily during the night. It trailed all the way to the floor where she had clearly been trying to mop it up with cloth.

Why hadn’t she said anything? They would have fixed it for her.

He’d speak with Arlan later. A bit of plaster would cover it, but the roof would need patching, especially if the rain was going to continue.

Tiernan glanced out of the window. The clouds were dark and heavy. It would rain for days more still, by the looks of it.

Arlan’s hand on his shoulder interrupted his plans, and he realized he’d been staring. He cleared his throat.

“We’ll be going, then.” He said, giving one final glance at the ceiling before following Arlan’s lead.

The repairs wouldn’t take long, he decided. Adriane would probably have a list of other things they could do today as well. He took a deep breath and let it out.

At least he had gotten a good night’s sleep. He felt more rested than he had in ages.

 

**IRIS**

 

It had been a warm night, and her favorite tree had begged her to sleep among its boughs. She had obliged, of course (Who would ever want to hurt the feelings of a tree? A monster, that’s who.) and she only began to regret it when the first _plop!_ of water hit her square on the forehead.

Her eyes snapped open and she realized that if she didn’t move _right now_ , she’d be soaked through. Normally, she probably wouldn’t have minded very much. Today, however, she minded an awful lot.

The braids in her hair would be ruined if she stayed out here. Not to mention the flowers she’d found would be beaten to a pulp under the rain drops.

She dropped down out of her tree and rushed to the front doors of the inn...only to find that they’d been locked. Another heavy drop hit her shoulder, and she made the quick decision to run to the stable instead.

Iris made it under the eaves with an almost comical amount of time to spare. The rain began to pour down in sheets, and while there were a lot of places in the stable that were leaking, the stall she had given to Claude was mostly dry.

The large horse tilted an ear in her direction and huffed, happy to see her, but sleepy.

"Hello, friend," Iris greeted Claude and pressed a hand to his nose before moving closer to her new favorite horse.

He wasn’t a tree, but he was dry. And adorable.

Iris pulled a blanket from its place along the railing of his stall and leaned against Claude, determined to make the best of a bad situation. But when she finally settled and realized where she was looking, she blushed.

This side of the stable had a perfect view of the inn. In fact, it had a perfect view of several rooms in the inn. The part of the stable that had fallen to ruin would have normally blocked the windows, but Iris now had a perfect view of a pensive Adriane pacing in the candlelight. Æfleda’s window, next to Adriane’s room, was dark.

Iris closed her eyes and tried very hard not to think. Moments later, however, one eye popped open to be sure she wasn’t dreaming.

She couldn’t see much. The window was far away, and it was still very dark, but there could be no mistaking the determined set to those shoulders.

Iris huffed and turned over, hoping to fall asleep quickly.

Claude huffed in return, and Iris seemed to know exactly what he was thinking: “ _I know_.”

“I know you know,” she whispered, reaching out to run a hand down his nose. “What’s important is that she doesn’t know that you know that I know, you know?”

Iris smiled when Claude blinked: “ _Sleep_.”

“Right away, good sir.”

And eventually, Adriane’s room fell into darkness as well.

Finally, Iris slept.


End file.
